Naked except for a towel in Seattle
by Kiwikatipo
Summary: As the seige in Terminal City wears on Max and Alec start to act like sex crazed animals. Why?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer. Tragically Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me.

_This story is dedicated to the author formerly known as D***d***** who suggested the plot to me. _

Alec McDowell waited happily if with his normal impatience in the queue for his twice weekly bath. Water was being strictly rationed in week four of the siege of Terminal City and three people had to share the same bath water. Fortunately Alec was getting to go first today, and he was looking forward to shaving as well.

An X5 named Syl pouted at him enticingly. He smiled back politely, he knew she was one of Max's fellow 09 escapees and as such he felt a residual dislike of her. Her clone hadn't survived the re-indoctrination process and had been a bitch anyway.

Syl went up to him and started flirting outrageously. Alec looked at her startled as he clicked into what she was coming onto him for.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but are you about to prostitute yourself to me for first dibs on a bath?" he smirked in delight.

"Well yeah," Syl chuckled huskily. "I'd normally kill for a bath but I figure that's just a tiny bit antisocial just now."

"Works for me," said Alec letting her in the line, ignoring the filthy looks the others behind him gave them.

Syl and Alec entered the bath house and began stripping off their clothes.

"I suppose you don't kiss?" Alec said to her pulling her close.

"Fellow X5 I'll make an exception." Syl replied pulling his head down to hers.

Alec began to copulate with her swiftly holding her legs round his waist and trying to keep them both off the floor and out of the bath water. Alec was holding his clothes against Syl's back keeping them off the filthy floor and wet bench. He should have brought a plastic bag but he just hadn't been expecting his first screw in eight weeks. 494 was also conscious of the time factor. He had a meeting with Max and Mole in fifteen minutes and the queue for the bath had taken ages. Alec wondered what the etiquette was here, should he bother to make sure Syl came as well? Nah the hell with it, he really needed to make that meeting.

He let himself go focusing on the point of release increasing the speed of his thrusts resting the small blonde transgenic's behind on the makeshift bathtub. To his and Syl's mutual astonishment this fast in and out penetration seemed to trigger something in Syl and she started to scream nosily.

People started to bang on the wall outside yelling things like. "Have a frickin bath! Go for it, 494! My god, that is disgusting!"

"Oh my god! I'm going to come, just give me two minutes, 494." Syl gasped desperately burying her head on his chest.

Now unfortunately for himself Alec was one of nature's natural gentlemen. In spite of Manticore's best efforts Alec had a weakness for the fairer sex. He didn't want to strangle or garrotte females he wanted to take them out for dinner and have them go down on him in gratitude afterwards. Alec loved making women climax and he had had never screwed with a fellow transgenic before so he had a lot of factors working against him at that moment.

"Oh god! Oh god!" wept Syl in ecstasy. She clenched around him and raked her nails down his back as her whole body shook with orgasm.

Alec was shocked to find himself growling like an animal , he bit Syl's shoulder and thrust into her so hard as he ejaculated that they both fell into the bath with a loud splash, still holding onto their clothes.

Alec quickly got off Syl and she raised herself up out of the water coughing.

"Please excuse me." He said apologetically to her falling back on his normal good manners, not the street patois he put on with Max. "I'm afraid I've got both our clothes wet."

"Oh that's okay, G." Syl replied cheerfully, wringing out her wet jeans into the bath tub. "It couldn't be helped."

Alec wondered why Max couldn't be reasonable like Syl; he had obviously been hanging out with the wrong 09 escapee for the past year.

Alec grabbed his shaving kit and started to shave. Syl lay back soaking in the warm water smiling. Alec couldn't believe the female valued a hot bath over sex. It was amazing the head jobs Manticore had pulled on every one.

Alec got out of the tub quickly and wrung out his clothes, it was no use they were sopping. He'd have to run back to his apartment and get dry clothes. At least his blue towel was dry.

Alec wrapped his blue towel round his waist and strode out nonchalantly of the bath house.

Catcalls and wolf whistles met his appearance and _oh shit_ a glaring Max.

Max stood with her arms folded and her foot tapping. "Ready for our meeting?" she snapped at him.

"Well obviously not, 452." Alec shot back tersely. "But my understanding is that meeting is in six minutes at the control room, not here outside the bath house."

"I was going to walk with you to the meeting." Max told him looking hurt ._Why the hell was Max hurt?_ "But I could see you're too occupied getting busy with my sister."

"Huh?" Alec said puzzled. "Look I'll see you at the control room okay? I need to go to my apartment and change."

"There's no time." Max said irritated. "Not even if you blur, you'll just have to dry out your clothes in the control room."

"Fine Maxie I'm sure the usual arguments about stretching our non existent rations even further wouldn't cope with me being five minutes late." Alec replied annoyed at her.

They walked in silence back to the control room.

Once inside Mole greeted Alec with a raised eyebrow. "Californian Surfer look in vogue with X5s this summer?" the lizard man inquired archly.

Alec put his arms over his head and grinned confidently, leaning back in a chair. "Blame 452, she wouldn't let me change."

"You two love birds make me sick." Mole laughed good naturedly.

_Oopsie!_ Alec immediately realised the reason for the hurt look on Max's face. Max had that ridiculous pretence going they were a couple to stop Cale crushing on her. Oh great, as far as most of Terminal City was concerned he had just cheated on their saintly leader with her unit mate in a bath house.

Alec went through the rest of the meeting with part of his grey matter solely devoted to getting into Max's good books again.

Max and Mole argued over the finer points of calorie requirements for X8s and Alec nodded uncaringly.

At last the meeting was over and he could get Max alone. Alec dragged her into a side room prepared to grovel.

"Max, I'm really sorry huh?" he began, trying to melt the ice in her frosty glare.

"I don't believe that for an instant, Alec." Max turned pink. "I heard you _growling_ for god's sake."

"Yeah that took me by surprise too. It was very sudden, Max, and I..."Alec was interrupted by Logan barging in through the door.

"Hey bud." Alec smirked. "Don't _you_ ever knock?"

Logan Cale took a swinging punch at him that Alec ducked effortlessly. Max darted forward and then stood back frustrated, unable to touch the man she loved due to the damn virus Manticore had cooked up.

Alec held Cale back with one arm, clutching his blue towel firmly with the other. "Whoa there, pal, what's the problem?"

"You, you sociopath." Logan shook in fury.

"That hurts, Logan." Alec said insincerely. "Are you referring to my environmental friendliness in the bath house this morning?"

"How you could cheat on her." Logan spat disgusted. "She is so above you in every way."

"It's okay, Logan." Max said firmly. "It's not what you think. You see the thing is with me and Alec, the truth is…"

_Thank god_ thought Alec _she's going to tell him the truth, this ridiculous charade can be over._

"We have an open relationship …it's an X5 thing." Max finished lamely. "I'm okay with it." She said defiantly at Logan's revolted look.

Alec rolled his eyes at her over Logan's head. _For the love of god!_

"I can't believe what he's reduced you to, Max." said Logan brokenly and fled out the door.

"Charming" Alec commented unwisely.

"Just shut up!" yelled Max. "That was your entire fault. You couldn't keep it in your pants could you? My god, Syl just arrived last night."

"Well what's it to you, little girl?" Alec screamed right back in her face "Because according to you we have an open relationship. And yeah, I know the chorus, **you hate m****e**."

Alec stormed out of the room furious at himself for not knowing why he was furious and narrowed his eyes at everyone in the control room pretending to suddenly be busy and not like they'd been eavesdropping on his and Max's fight.

Alec grabbed his damp clothes from a chair and stalked off to his apartment to change.

Alec was extremely surprised to see Joshua in his apartment. His apartment was completely trashed over and Joshua was tidying it up.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked his friend.

Joshua looked up apologetically from his dust pan and broom. "X7s and their pet gossamer. Unfortunate accident."

"Why couldn't they be normal eleven year olds with labradors?" Alec asked not really expecting an answer. He spotted something terrible "Oh frickin' shit!"

"Unfortunate." Joshua repeated looking sadly at Alec's clothes covered with Gossamer spit.

"If it's not bad enough my favourite jacket got a bullet hole in it, now it's covered in monster hoik." Alec commented angrily.

"The X7s are coming back to wash your clothes." Joshua appeased.

"Great." said Alec. "Why were they in my room anyway?"

"People put them up to it. People angry at you getting busy with Syl when you're with Max" Joshua explained.

"I'm not with Max!" Alec sighed. "If I was really with her I never would have done that. I don't think."

"Joshua knows you're not with Max but Max even she forgets sometimes you're not with her." Joshua said cryptically.

Alec sat down on the floor and kept his blue towel carefully around him. He put his head back against the wall and clenched his jaw with frustration. Why whenever he was getting on well with Max did something happen to screw it up?

He hung his ungobbed on clothes out the window to dry and started to help Joshua clean up his room.

Suddenly a young man who looked like a male version of Max burst into the room without knocking.

The stranger was the second of the male of the day to attack him, but unfortunately this guy being a transgenic he was able to sock Alec on the jaw successfully.

Joshua growled and flung the intruder off Alec. Unfortunately Joshua flung the male against the wall with the window so hard Alec's drying clothes fell into the street two floors below.

Alec instantly recognised the angry male as one of the 09 escapees, he had been friendly with the guy's clone in Manticore. This guy must be Krit.

"Good afternoon to you too, bud." Alec said lightly. "What can I do you for?"

"Stay away from my sister! Syl's mine." Krit snarled with fury struggling against Joshua's pinning grip.

"Right, and _I_ had to spend six months in psyops." Alec blinked startled rubbing his swelling jaw. "I'm sorry pal, I didn't notice _property of a madman_ tattooed underneath Syl's barcode when she screwed me to enable her to get a bath this morning."

Joshua threw Krit out of Alec's room and Alec went down to retrieve his clothes from the street below. His clothes were now covered in mud so Alec handed them to the X7s who had come to wash his gossamer phlegm covered wardrobe.

Alec went to the set up mess hall to get a late lunch and ran into Max.

"Are you still in that towel?" Max sniffed disapprovingly.

"I'm starting a trend." Alec smiled tightly, slopping his ration in a bowl. "Please keep me company as we dine on this fine cuisine."

Max sat down with him and forced the unappetising gruel down her throat. "You're such an ass." She hissed.

"This mess including the fact I have nothing to wear now but this towel is all your freakin' fault, Maxie." Alec said pleasantly "You and your stupid lies."

"I was protecting Logan." Max reinformed him.

"Just spare me the drill. What have I ever got out of this stupid set up?" Alec asked her.

"You get off knowing everyone thinks you're getting jiggy with me." Max retorted. "And you know it."

"I'd get off so much better if you actually were, Max." Alec told her bluntly.

"Gross," Max scowled offended. "I knew you've always wanted me."

"Yeah I have and I'm sick of this pretending, either you let me bang you for real or I'm telling Logan." Alec said scraping the last of the ration out of his bowl.

"I can't believe I'm being sexually blackmailed by someone wearing a blue towel in a mess hall." Max hit her forehead on the makeshift table in despair..

"Life's full of little surprises." Alec told her cruelly. "Now if you'll excuse me, 452, I have some clothes drying to supervise."

He got up and walked off coolly his superior hearing allowing him to duck in time as Max threw her metal lunch bowl at his head.

Alec successfully stayed out of sight in his apartment and spent the rest of the evening cleaning it.

A knock on his door sounded late in the evening. He opened it still in his blue towel and saw Max with burning cheeks standing outside his thresh hold.

"Told Logan?" Alec asked her.

"No." said Max crossly. She pulled off her tank top. "So go ahead, you prick, take me."

"Take off all your clothes first." Alec demanded.

Max glared at him and stripped off in silence. Alec admired the way she was able to keep perfect balance even while taking her boots and socks off standing on tiptoe so as not to get her socks dirty on his mud covered floor..

"Well that's a mighty fine sight, Max." Alec said slowly looking her up and down. "But I'm not going to have sex with you tonight."

Max went to slap him but Alec blocked her in time. He pulled her close and smiled at her angelically. "I can wait till bath night this Friday. That gives you three more nights to get it together and tell Logan the truth about our non-relationship." He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

Max shook with rage. "You complete freak."

"That's me, sweetheart." Alec released her. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Max."

Max pulled on her clothes and left in silence that was far more scary than if she had said something.

Alec sat down on the floor and started to chuckle manically to himself so this was what happened when he wasn't given access to television.


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't you step on my pink fluffy towel.**

_AN: Zane looks like Chad Michael Murray a very cute young American actor look up a photo of him and drool. Yes, this is a **repost** with grammar mistakes fixed and ending (next chapter) improved._

Max stormed out of Alec's rooms shaking with rage. She had never felt more humiliated and furious and godamit, _turned on_ in her life. She hated Alec, hated him, to think she had been wack enough to start thinking of him as her pal. The black mailing, mind gaming dog!

Now tragically for Max it had been a whole year since she had got jiggy with a boytoy. There had been no man in Max's bed since her heat fuelled encounter with Rafer. (Although technically Max had been in Rafer's bed.) Max had obviously had her heat cycles fixed at Manticore, one thing to be grateful for, However Max missed banging the gong and she was still so in love with Logan. If anything her love and sexual attraction for him had strengthened this past year, as her cute cruffy intellectual continuously put himself on the line for her, watched her back and fixed her gourmet lunches in the depressed Seattle economy.

Max hurried aound a corner and a group of X6s playing football crashed into her. Max fought for balance, but she wasn't strong enough to fight off the four male sixteen year old transgenics.

The five of them went down in a pile.

"Sorry, Max," said one of them helping his glorious leader to her feet, "are you alright?"

Max turned and looked down at herself. "No! I've fallen in gossamer crap." She rolled her eyes. "Why are you playing football anyhoo? Just do something useful like freaking patrol!" she stomped off furious at herself for being furious at the boys, they were just kids, she was pissed at **Alec**.

She walked up to her rooms and slammed the door behind her. How the hell was she going to get gossamer doodoo out of her jeans and black tank top? Water was rationed after all.

Max had two rooms, one she used as a living/bed room and the other a storage cupboard she used as a walk in wardrobe.

Max peeled off her clothes and wrapped a pink bath towel round her nakedness. Maybe if she scrubbed with newspaper…?

A knock at her door tore her away from her laundry musings. Max opened the door to find her fellow 09 escapee and unit mate Zane standing outside the door with his German Shepherd, Blitzie. Zane looked distraught. The sandy haired, stubbled, six foot tall, wiry, young man had tears in his blue eyes. Blitzie wagged his tail endearingly in seeming support for his master.

"What's wrong, Zane?" Max asked in concern.

"They want to eat Blitzie." Zane burst out. "They want to take away his dog biscuits, eat those, and then chow down on Blitzie."

"Come in," said Max, leading Zane and Blitzie inside her room.

Zane burst into tears. "Please, Maxie, please don't let them eat Blitzie. That dog has been everything to me since we escaped Manticore."

Max drew Zane to her and let her unit mate weep on her shoulder. "Sssh, ssh, Zane, I promise Blitzie is gonna be safe okay? We'll get him out of Terminal City. I'll get Clemente to give him to a pal of mine called Kendra - she's shacked up with a cop."

Zane kept sobbing hysterically on her shoulder, he was so much heavier and taller than Max it was uncomfortable for her. Blitzie whined sympathetically and put his paw on Zane's leg.

Max realised Zane probably hadn't cried since he had left Manticore, this thing with Blitzie was obviously unlocking a floodgate of emotions for Zane. She drew him over to her bed the only comfortable surface in her room and let Zane sob away in her arms. She held him fiercely, stroking his hair, kissing his cheeks. Blitzie sprang up on the bed too. Max recognised that Blitzie was an extremely spoiled dog.

Zane's sobs grew calmer and Max was aware of a different tension in the way he was holding her. Max looked up at him and realised he was never her brother. Zane's lips came down on hers at first tentatively exploring, and then as he met no resistance from Max he began kissing her as desperately as he had previously sobbed.

Max returned his kisses eagerly; it was as if this was all she had wanted for the past month. She could smell him, the dried sweat on his body and she wanted him to be pulling her towel off and suckling her breasts, she wanted his calloused mechanic's hand to be parting her thighs; she wanted his weight pressing on top of her heavily and crushingly.

_Hold on, what the hell was the dog doing?_ _Oh holy shit, how_ _revolting_, it was humping Zane's leg.

Zane swore, pulled Blitzie off and shoved him in Max's store room. He turned around and looked at Max questioningly as if seeking permission to continue with what they had been doing.

"It's okay, Zane, I want you to make love to me." Max reassured him. "It's like I need you to somehow."

"I get it." said Zane getting back down beside her. He started kissing her roughly again and Max felt his whiskers grazing her chin, it felt like the most sensual touch of her life.

Now if Max had been thinking straight it would have occurred to her that it was odd that she was experiencing the same thoughts and sensations that normally only had happened to her in heat. She was however not thinking logically or clearly and that was why she arched her hips and spread her legs as wide as possible so Zane could penetrate her as deeply as he could.

"Oh my god." they both gasped together and then chuckled with each other. That was their last shared civilised moment as Zane got on with the serious biological task on inseminating her. Somehow it seemed natural to them at the time that their copulation should be involving biting, scratching and Max screaming loudly. Something that if she had been capable of coherent thought she would have noticed she didn't normally do even when she had been in heat.

Now unfortunately no one in Manticore knocked. So this was why just as Max and Zack were reaching a noisy brutal simultaneous orgasm Joshua and Mole dashed in the room.

Joshua and Mole looked away from the rutting couple and opened Max's closet dragging out a choking Blitzie.

Zane ejaculated, rolled off Max and dashed over to his distressed dog.

Max lay on her bed breathing heavily she wondered bitchily if Joshua or Zane were going to fight over who gave mouth to mouth to Blitzie. She caught herself. How mean of her, what was wrong with her these days?

Max found her pink towel and wrapped it round herself and walked wobbly legged over to where the three transgenics were helping the German Shepherd.

Blitzie had been choking on Max's white tank top. What the hell? Max strode into her closet and saw Blitzie had torn her few clothes to shreds. Max punched the plaster wall and put her fist through it. In spite of the bruising and swelling it felt damn good. She put a smile on her face and came out of the store room.

"So what brings you two dropping in?" Max said breezily.

"Clemente wants an urgent meeting with us, got a proposal we need to sign and then he'll take it to the Governor." Mole looked at her askance. "Do you want to get dressed?"

"I have no clothes." Max laughed gaily. "That little scamp Blitzie just ate them." She looked at Zane with an instant switch in her personality. "Bring the freakin' dog to the meeting and we'll get rid of it before I snap it's furry little neck and eat it myself."

"Okay, sorry about the clothes, Maxie." Zane said placatingly. A vague part of him was wondering how he could be so cool and casual about just having had sex with someone he had always regarded as his sweet little cousin. Like Zack he had never brought into that brother sister trash, it was the girls that mostly had thought like that. Oh well, the main thing was to get Blitzie out safely Zane supposed.

Max strode to the gates of Terminal City head held high as if it was the most normal thing in the world to be covered with runes, love bites and nail scratches and wearing nothing but a pink towel. Mole walked beside her smoking his cigar in stunned silence.

Zane walked quietly behind them carrying Blitzie protectively.

Alec was waiting at the gate for them with Clemente and Dix. Sketchy was there busy recording it all for posterity. Fortunately he didn't have his camera with him. Alec was still wearing his blue towel and Max's eyes narrowed as she noticed the bruises on his arms made by Syl's clutching hands.

Alec clenched his fists as he saw Max's body far more marked than his own from the ravages of sex, and his swollen jaw tightened.

"Evening," Alec said to the new arrivals cheerfully and with an undercurrent of falseness about his persona. "Clemente has a great proposal here."

Max smiled politely and took the forms Clemente proffered and sped read them. "This is great!" she said happily. "Thank you so much."

"Anything to avoid bloodshed, Max." Clemente said warmly.

Max, Mole, Dix and Alec signed the forms and Max successfully foisted Zane's dog on Clemente. Clemente ever the inscrutable cop didn't say a word about the towel garbed Max and Alec but promised to look after Blitzie himself.

The gate shut after Clemente and the transgenics and Sketchy started to walk back to the control room.

Before Mole could inquire of Zane to the whereabouts of Blitzie's dog biscuits Alec attacked Zane, his hands at his throat.

"You touch Max again and I wil kill you, you understand, no stopping to collect pay on go, no get out of jail free card." Alec told him intensely and also revealing that monopoly was his favourite board game.

"Yeah she's all yours, man." Zack said appeasingly, palms held open in surrender. "But don't you think you shouldn't cheat on her?"

Now once again if Max had just been that little more in touch with the thinking side of her brain she might have wondered why she was just standing passively by as Alec threatened physical violence to her unit mate and why she wasn't hurt at Zane's casual relinquishment of her.

Alec released his hold on Zane's throat. "Just stay away from her" He repeated lamely.

Sketchy looked at Max and Alec worried, like O.C. and Joshua he alone knew Alec and Max had just been pretending to be a couple. "Perhaps you guys should go talk?" Sketchy suggested to them nervously. They were two of his favourite people and they were both looking at the other hurt as if they had screwed each other over.

"Yeah," said Alec as he held out his hand and Max took it, they both slipped off into the night.

Zane wandered off as if dazed in a different direction.

"Is it just me?" Dix asked Mole and Sketchy. "Or are the X5s and 6s acting real strange recently?"

Max and Alec stood in the ruins of a souvenir teaspoon factory. They were still holding hands.

"So the open relationship is just open for you, huh?" Max snorted sardonically.

"Yes, no, shut up!" Alec kissed her hard with less sophistication than a thirteen year old at a school hop. Yuck it was like he could taste Zane on her even though he knew logically that was impossible. It made him want to have sex with Max more than ever. He turned her round so she was facing the wall lifted the towel, plunged into her and came in three strokes.

Max stood upright and looked at him amazed. "That was it?" inquired, her mouth hanging open in frustrated shock.

"No." said Alec kissing her again, trying not to think of Zane's tongue exploring Max's mouth earlier that night. "I don't know why I just did that. I don't know why I'm doing anything, Maxie."

"Don't call me that." Max said in irritation wrapping her legs round Alec's waist and letting him enter her again.

Alec leaned her against the wall knocking off a faded calendar depicting kittens in a basket to the floor. "I'll call you what the hell I want." Alec snapped back at Max moving in and out of her slowly.

"You have been such an asshole today." Max panted already feeling an orgasm building, amazingly even quicker than with Zane.

"Well apparently you've been an even bigger bitch than normal," Alec grunted. "Maxie." he added with a gasp just to piss her off even more. Alec for the life of him could not work out why he was being such a son of a bitch lately.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't have sex any more Alec" Max pleaded with her partner of the past five hours. "It's starting to hurt too much."

"Just another sec," Alec grunted ruthlessly, dripping with sweat he pinned her arms down and ejaculated for the fourteenth time that evening. He collapsed on top of her, they had been copulating on the reception counter alone for what seemed like an eternity.

"Are you okay?" he asked her concerned. He picked up an old piece of blotting paper and wiped his face with it.

"I'll live," shrugged Max lying back "I enjoyed everything but the last eight minutes, you were too rough."

"Well why didn't you tell me then?" Alec barked at her. "I'm not encoded with telepathic DNA, remember?."

"I kinda thought 'Alec, ow no' was a big hint." Max told him crossly, graciously allowing him to rest on her chest.

"You said that?" Alec frowned puzzled. "Maxie, I'm sorry, I was so caught up…"

"Yeah I noticed." Max informed him with a mixture of awe and revulsion.

"I've never got off before so many times with anyone, I didn't know I could." Alec reflected amazed, kissing her shoulder gently.

"No more!" Max said alarmed, she shoved him off the counter. Alec thanks to his transgenic DNA landed perfectly upright instead of face first in the dust.

"Well excuse me, Maxie." Alec said, folding his arms defensively his upper lip curling. "I was merely kissing you in affection seeing we've known each other ten months, and you just let me ejaculate somewhere inside your body fourteen freaking times."

"Affection huh?" Max looked at him defensively. She looked downwards at his groin and raised her eyebrows sceptically.

"I wasn't gonna do anything," Alec snapped at her. "Believe it or not I'm getting sore too." He picked up his towel. "Geez, I just wanna bath!"

Alec went to walk out the doors of the deserted factory and then glanced back at Max still lying naked on the imitation marble counter. In the dawn's early light he could see fresh bruises and scratches coming up all over her body. Her chin was so grazed by his stubble it looked like she'd fallen on gravel.

Alec walked over to her. "Get up." He ordered his pal turned unexpected bed buddy. "I'm not having you stagger out after me like some rape victim. It'll be bad for everyone's morale."

"Can you ever stop thinking like some damn soldier." Max sighed getting painfully off the bench. Alec grabbed her to support her so he coul.d help her out the door.

The fates, Max's usual friends, made them run bang smack into Logan as she rounded a corner.

Logan was picking up edible weeds to put into a bag. He looked at her Max's sex inflicted wounds in the summer dawn and dropped his plastic bag in shock.

"Hey Max", Logan whispered in helpless despair.

Max was stricken with guilt to see Logan's eyes fill with tears of pity for her.

Alec was acutely embarrassed. He had never laid a hand in anger on a sexual partner before this and now it looked liked he had beaten Max in some Jack Daniels inspired frenzy. The marks on Max were looking incredibly ugly on her pink towelled body in dawn's increasing light, especially the bruise bite marks, and Alec wanted to get clothes on her as soon as possible. This was a definite reversal of his normal thoughts about her during their Jam Pony days.

"Logan it's not that bad. It's not Alec's fault. Some of these marks are from when I … " Max trailed off piteously not being able to tell Logan she had had sex with Zane the night before someone she had always thought of as a brother. Why the hell would Logan want to know the gory details? What was wrong with her brain?

"You're limping, Max." Logan said looking in disgust at Alec. Alec felt like the scum of the Earth remembering Logan telling him to take care of Max.

"Oh that ha ha." Max began weakly about to make up some crap lie about glass in her foot. Then Max thought the hell with it.

"Look everything you see on my body I wanted Alec to do to me." Max said leaning onto Alec harder. "We're over, Logan, deal with it."

Alec and Max walked off heads held high. They rounded the corner. "Okay," gasped Max grimacing in pain. "Carry me the rest of the way, I can't walk."

Alec looked at her embarrassed. "If I pick you up I'll get another erection and it'll show through the towel, people are starting to move about."

Max hit him on the side of his head with a satisfying wack. "Blur then!" she shrieked. "I think I tore a hamstring back when we were screwing on top of that filing cabinet."

Alec smacked her back with an equally satisfying wack. "Stop hitting me Max!" he snarled dangerously. "Just you shut up for once.",

Max put her hand to her head in disbelief to where Alec had hit her. Max bit her lip to stop herself from ripping Alex limnb from limb – because every transgenic was needed for the cause.

Max put her hands on her hips instead. "I feel filthy and dirty and I just want to stand under a hot shower and wash you off me."

Alec held his hands up to show her he meant no harm, and kissed her on an unmarked bit of her face. "I know, baby." He sympathised. "I can't stand having the thought of all this gunk covering me from you as well."

Max decided not to make an issue of Alec calling her baby after all as he had sensitively pointed out to her earlier she had let him ejaculate in or on some part of her body fourteen times last nigh,t this must mean they were going steady or something.

The morning briefing meeting was briefer than normal. Mole and Dix did their best not to stare at Max and Alec who were wearing dusty white lab coats the only clean spare clothing in the city. Dix sneezed, he was sensitive to dust.

Max and Alec were both surly and Mole stopped the meeting early. There were far less X5s in the control room than normal a fact Max noted as Alec let her lean his weight on him again.

"Come back to my room, Max." he urged her.

"I said I don't want to have sex anymore." Max told him firmly.

"I just want your company." Alec told her beseechingly. "We can just sleep together we don't have to do anything." He waved at Sketchy walking past them.

"I don't believe it when ordinaries feed me that line, even less you!" Max sniped.

"Stop believing the worst of me all the time!" Alec went to shake her then stopped himself. "Look I just want you where I can see you. I promise I'll leave you alone."

A young male X6 went over to them. "Are you alright, Max?" he asked her.

Max beamed beatifically at him. At last someone nice, not the bastard that was 494.

Alec loomed over the hapless teenager. "Get out of our way, kid." He said coldly.

Sketchy observed this behaviour from the corner of the control room and was troubled. Even more so when he looked out the window and saw that Alec was physically dragging Max by her wrist to go back to his room. Sketchy observed Max slapping Alec hard across the face and pointing to her leg, Alec yelled something at her and started kissing Max on the mouth. Sketchy clutched the window frame in disbelief as Max slid her hands round Alec's neck and began kissing him back. Alec picked Max up and carried her towards the direction of his room.

"Okay" Said Sketchy to O.C. at midday as he watched the older girl use her allocated water ration for clothes washing "I am officially confused."

Original Cindy paused in her wringing out of her one spare set of clothes. "How so, Sketch?"

"We've known Max for two years right? This sex all day marathon she's having with Alec is all completely out of character for her and even for Alec." Sketchy considered worried.

"O.C. has always observed and shared that Alec was a dog with the ladies." Original Cindy commented sourly.

"Yeah, but both he and Max stink!" Sketchy pointed out. Did you get a whiff of them at breakfast?" Sketchy pressed home his point. "Alec would always shower in the Jam Pony shower if he hadn't been able to make it home from a girlfriends place. He always washed after sex."

Original Cindy made a face at Sketchy's prurience. "Well none of us smells that great, fool, at the moment."

"Yeah, but Max always used to smell extra nice." Sketchy pointed out. "Didn't you and her old room mate Kendra joke about her bath obsession ,her scented bath salts or whatever?"

"Not sure where you're going with this, Sketch." Original Cindy said shaking her clothes on a communal piece of rope to dry. "Our boo's scratching her itch with pretty boy. Max's trying to get over Logan who is the love of her life. It's tragic is what it is. You're just being gross."

"O.C., stop thinking like a girl for once." Sketchy reasoned with her bravely. "Where are all the X5s today?"

Original Cindy looked around puzzled, now that Sketchy had mentioned it the streets were rather quiet in Terminal City today.

"I tell you where." Sketchy said. "They're holed up in rooms having sex or they're physically fighting each other."

O.C shook her head and pointed at a pregnant X5 woman and her male unit mate friend. "They're not."

"They had a bath yesterday night." Sketchy pointed out. "The X6s and X5s you see on the streets today had baths."

Original Cindy stared at him intrigued "You told me you were confused but O.C. is confused because she thinks Sketch is going somewhere with this, spill fool."

After Sketchy had explained his theory to Original Cindy she made him tell Mole and Dix.

Immediately upon hearing Sketchy's theory, Mole and Dix called in the rest of the important transgenic from the X5's and X6s. Once gathered, everyone sat down and made plans.

Back in Alec's room Max was loosing her voice from crying out so much during sex.

"I didn't hurt you?" Alec checked with Max lowering her gently back on the floor from the desk they had been using.

Max shook her head, her greasy sweaty hair falling away from her eyes. "No. My leg is getting better. I want a drink of water."

She hopped over and drank the boiled rain water in a bottle near Alec's bed. "I need to pee.' She stated flatly.

"I'll come with you." Alec told her quickly.

"I can make it down the hall without your aid." Max frowned looking for the lab coat.

"I'll come with you, I need to go too." Alec informed her crossly.

"You're suffocating me!" Max screamed at him. "I want to go to the freaking can by myself."

"Just shut up and do what you're told!" Alec yelled at her back.

Max took a big gulp of rainwater and Alec put his hand over her mouth. "Don't even think of spitting that at me." He instructed her in an angry command. "I'm sorry I spoke to you like that but I need to use the john too, for real."

Mole and Dix walked in to their room. Max pulled her tattered lab coat round her tightly.

"What?" Alec and Max snapped simultaneously.

"We need to talk to both of you urgently and then we're meeting Clemente in two hours but we've arranged separate baths for you first." Mole told them.

Both Max and Alec's faces lit up and they smiled happily at each other.

"I don't care about the privileges of power." Max laughed with joy. "I just want to wash and wash."

"God, me too" Alec agreed reverently "I'll just walk you to the restroom."

Half an hour later saw Max and Alec sitting around a table in Terminal City's control room freshly washed and dried in clean clothes borrowed from Sketchy and Original Cindy, whom to their surprise were also present at the meeting.

The two X5's both looked cheerful again although occasionally Max would shoot Alec an embarrassed look and Alec would look at Max speculatively.

Mole sucked on his cigar. Clemente had kept Mole supplied during the past month to keep him malleable just as he had supplied the shampoo sample bottles and soap cakes that morning.

"Okay, we need to tell you something important about you X5s that we've just worked out." Mole said curtly. "Dix, you explain."

"What! It was the ordinary's theory." Dix said passing the buck along further "Sketchy, over to you."

Sketchy looked embarrassed. "Remember my fellow ex Jam Pony buds don't shoot the messenger." He drew breath and Original Cindy nodded at him encouragingly.

"The lack of baths has made you X5s and to a lesser extent the X6s behave very out of character recently and it started when we ran out of soap last week." Sketchy went on. "At Manticore you guys and the X6s got to shower every morning and immediately after you got sweaty training, right?"

Max and Alec nodded in agreement. So what, what was Sketchy's point?

"Yeah well, people constantly give off pheromones and with you guys smelling of your own sweat you all have started to act like panthers." Sketchy said. "That's why you've all been more aggressive with each other and everyone else, you wanted territory space, black panthers aren't social, my friends. It's also why all the females have been acting like pole dancers and the males closest to them have been fighting off the other men, so they could make sure no one else impregnated their girlfriends."

"Impregnate," stammered Alec looking sick "Oh my god, no."

"Chill, man, you have seventy two hours for the emergency contraception pill." Sketchy reassured them, And once you guys meet Clemente and the governor and sign one last form one last form the siege is ended, we have a drugstore standing by with emergency contraception for everyone who wants it."

"Oh I want it," burst out Max. "Do you think I wanna be pregnant with that control freak's child?"

"I'm not normally like that." Alec said hurt. "I knew you'd sneak off with someone else if I wasn't with you." he shook his head. "Oh boy we really weren't thinking straight were we?"

"No." said Max covering her face with her hands, blushing with shame. "Oh god this is worse than heat."

And so it was the forms were signed, the transgenics of terminal city gave a shout of joy, all the X5's and X6's were given cakes of Soap and told to wash the second they emerged in public and Mr Bashir proprietor of Bashir's Drugstore did a roaring trade that night.

Alec watched Max pop the foil off the medicine gulp down two pills and handed her a can of soda to wash them down.

"The end huh?" Alec said to her.

"Absolutely" Agreed Max.

"Could I take you out to dinner? I'll call a Taxi I can see you're still limping." Alec offered.

"As closure that would be real nice." Max approved.


End file.
